Israel’s killing of Gazans May Amount to War Crimes: UN
A UN fact-finding mission says Israeli forces committed rights violations during their crackdown against Palestinian protesters in the Gaza Strip last year that may amount to “war crimes,” urging the regime’s military to prevent its snipers from using lethal force against the demonstrators.
The UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on the protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory presented its full report on Monday, saying Israeli forces breached international human rights by using live ammunition against unarmed Palestinian protesters during the anti-Israel protests in Gaza.
The Israeli forces “committed violations of international human rights and humanitarian law,” said UN Commissioner Kaari Betty Murungi. “Some of those violations may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity, and must be immediately investigated by Israel.”
Tensions erupted in Gaza on March 30, 2018, which marked the start of a series of protests, dubbed “The Great March of Return,” demanding the right to return for those driven out of their homeland.
The clashes reached their peak on May 14 that year, the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Nakba Day (the Day of Catastrophe), which coincided with the controversial US embassy relocation from Tel Aviv to the occupied Jerusalem al-Quds.
The violence left 189 Palestinians dead and thousands more injured between March 30 and December 31, 2018.
The 252-page report scrutinizes the Israeli military’s directives for its snipers to use of lethal force against Palestinians demonstrating along the border fence between the Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied territories.
There are “reasonable grounds” to believe that Israeli troops “killed and gravely injured civilians who were neither directly participating in hostilities nor posing an imminent threat,” the report said.
“The Commission found there was no justification for Israel’s … forces killing and injuring persons who pose no imminent threat of death or serious injury to those around them, including journalists, health workers and children,” said Santiago Canton, the chair of the commission.
When examining the Israeli troops’ use of live fire against Palestinian protesters, Canton said, the commission found that “application of lethal force was in the majority of cases authorized unlawfully. This inevitably led to arbitrary deprivation of life.”
(AFP)
Palestinian demonstrators protest under tear gas canisters fired by Israeli forces during a demonstration near the fence along the border with the occupied territories, east of Gaza City, on February 8, 2019. (By AFP)
The UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on the protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory presented its full report on Monday, saying Israeli forces breached international human rights by using live ammunition against unarmed Palestinian protesters during the anti-Israel protests in Gaza.
The Israeli forces “committed violations of international human rights and humanitarian law,” said UN Commissioner Kaari Betty Murungi. “Some of those violations may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity, and must be immediately investigated by Israel.”
Tensions erupted in Gaza on March 30, 2018, which marked the start of a series of protests, dubbed “The Great March of Return,” demanding the right to return for those driven out of their homeland.
The clashes reached their peak on May 14 that year, the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Nakba Day (the Day of Catastrophe), which coincided with the controversial US embassy relocation from Tel Aviv to the occupied Jerusalem al-Quds.
The violence left 189 Palestinians dead and thousands more injured between March 30 and December 31, 2018.
The 252-page report scrutinizes the Israeli military’s directives for its snipers to use of lethal force against Palestinians demonstrating along the border fence between the Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied territories.
There are “reasonable grounds” to believe that Israeli troops “killed and gravely injured civilians who were neither directly participating in hostilities nor posing an imminent threat,” the report said.
“The Commission found there was no justification for Israel’s … forces killing and injuring persons who pose no imminent threat of death or serious injury to those around them, including journalists, health workers and children,” said Santiago Canton, the chair of the commission.
When examining the Israeli troops’ use of live fire against Palestinian protesters, Canton said, the commission found that “application of lethal force was in the majority of cases authorized unlawfully. This inevitably led to arbitrary deprivation of life.”
(AFP)
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